INTERNAÇÃO HOSPITALAR E A OCORRÊNCIA DE DELIRIUM EM IDOSOS NA CONDIÇÃO DE FRAGILIDADE FÍSICA: ESTUDO TRANSVERSAL

Abstract

This is quantitative and cross-sectional study whose objective was to analyze the relationship between hospitalization and occurrence of delirium in frail older adults. This study is part of the research project entitled “Physical frailty, clinical, functional and nutritional outcomes and care demand in hospitalized older adults”, approved by the Committee of Ethics in Research with Human Beings from the Health Sciences Sector of the Federal University of Paraná with opinion No. 4,985,540, and by its counterpart belonging to the Curitiba Municipal Health Department with opinion No. 5,055,260. The study was developed in the Zilda Arns Municipal Hospital for Older Adults, Curitiba, Paraná. The participants were older adults aged ≥ 60 years old and admitted for clinical and/or surgical treatment in the hospitalization units. Sample size (n=300 older adults) was calculated considering the pre-pandemic period (2019) as time frame, in which there were 7,254 hospitalizations, with 4,146 patients aged ≥ 60 years old. The data were collected by means of sociodemographic and clinical questionnaires and of tests that include the physical frailty phenotype and the Confusion Assessment Method from march to July 2022. Descriptive analyses were performed for the sociodemographic, hospitalization, laboratory and medical history variables, and the adjusted odds ratios were estimated for the frailty and delirium variables. Among the 320 older adults evaluated, delirium was evidenced in 67 (21.14%) at admission. There was predominance of pre-frail aged individuals (n=157; 49%), followed by frail (n=116; 36.25%) and non-frail (n=44; 13.75%). The percentage of frail older adults that presented delirium was 71.64% and, for the pre-frail, it was 28.36% (p<0.0001). The predictive model indicated an association between occurrence of delirium and frailty (OR: 1.22; 95%CI: 1.07-1.38), age > 80 years old (OR: 1.14; 95%CI: 1.01-1.32), epilepsy diagnosis (OR: 1.38; 95%CI: 1.09-1.76) and dementia diagnosis (OR: 1.58; 95%CI: 1.37-1.82). Furthermore, an association was also found between occurrence of delirium and Reactive C Protein above the reference values (OR: 3.13; 95%CI: 1.10-11.36) and previous stroke history (OR: 1.14; 95%CI: 1.03-1.26). During hospitalization, frail older adults were more likely to develop delirium. Pre-frailty and frailty were prevalent conditions in the hospital environment, with their screening and management becoming important during hospitalization. Propensity to develop delirium was higher in older adults aged over 80 years old. Measures to prevent delirium should be implemented in this age group, minimizing the deleterious consequences. The importance of performing anamnesis seeking to identify previous dementia, epilepsy and stroke diagnoses is emphasized, in order to expand the measures to prevent delirium by the multiprofessional team.